hey everybody. i am new here, been reading for about a month or so now. i am 16 and am looking into getting a war within the next 2 months or so. i live in so cal, and love being in the desert(i have ridden motorcycles and stuff since i was 4). It looks like i will probably be buying a samurai when the time comes and i have the money. What i am wondering is what is the average price when all is said and done for you guys to do a lift(i am thinking YJ) by the time you get the kit, buy bigger tires, gear reducers, and all the other things that come with these projects. I am very mechanically minded and am good with tools. I cannot weld very well so i am looking into bolt on lifts, but everything else  i am either able to do myself, or have people local who can help me out. I just want to get a realistic estimate into what it would actually run me to get maybe a YJ lift, and some 31's or 33's. This car will also be a daily driver and weekend warrior machine so please keep that in mind.

Do you have a price range you want to stick with?
What kind of tires were you thinking of?
Also, what kind of wheeling do you think you will be partaking in? Rocks? Mud? Or just mostly doing some desert exploration?   

A samurai with lockers and tires will get you pretty much anywhere.
Or along with a spring over with 31's and some 4.16 T-case gears you would be pretty set to rip up the trails.


Amilla

thanks for the reply. since i am still in high school it is going to be somewhat a budget car, but i also believe if you are going to do a job, you need to do it right the first time. i will mostly be doing some desert exploring, sand dunes and stuff like that. not too much rock crawling and here is the suburbs of la, we dont have much much i would be dealing with. how much cheaper would it be to do a basic SPOA instead of a YJ swap?

hey im in our exact possition. just turned 17 wanna sammi and i was checkin at the jy kit for a long time before i realized how much money you'd need to put into it for it be actually be complete. id say look into a basic spoa kit and maybe some 2 in lift springs and a nice set of doestech shocks. nice set of bfg A/T you would be set for about  1300 bucks plus the car itself

dean

i did the YJ swap on mine, but it got too high to run 32's without looking dumb with spring over. i got a bit more flex, but for the stuff i do i'd rather be stable. i went with some no lift calminis and rancho shocks...they work. i like it better than th jy setup i had.

mine cost me about 500$, but i got deals on a few parts and did all the work myself.

http://www.sky-manufacturing.com/

Suzuki Samurai Spring Over Axle Conversion Kit. $675
Sky Manufacturing's new Samurai full spring over kit includes all the needed parts to gain 4.5 inch's of spring over axle lift.

Kit includes 4 Sky heavy duty spring pads, 2 driveshaft spacers, OTS' 1 crossover steering conversion, 4 lower shock mounts, upper front shock hoops, rear upper adjustable shock mount, brakelines', and a set of either Rancho RS 5000 or Doetch Tech 3000 series hydraulic soft valve shocks.


http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/samtcase.htm

6.5:1 Low Range Transfer Case Gears - $475
Good for 31" and bigger tires, lifetime warranty.


For a tire you might want to look into something thats got good on road characteristics and something that will work out for you in the sand. Maybe a BFG AT

thats what i would do if i started with a new sami.


oh yeah lockers would be highly recommend.


hope that helps

Amilla

Thank you all so much for your support. as i said origionally i am not buying exactly rightnow but these posts definitely helped me keep my head up for another day. as far as the sky Mfg kit, i had looked into it, but don't i need to weld on the shock hoops? when it comes to the "important stuff" like steering, suspension, and all. i would prefer a bolt on kit so i need not wiry if i am wrongly aligned up and all. thanks again!

http://rocky-road.com/truth.html

this is also really helpful

thanks a lot. bwhile we are on the topic. for just sand riding with the occasional trails, how much more would i benefit from an spoa lift over stock springs, and an arb locker?

For playing on the sand you won't really see a bonus from the lift, other then being able to run larger/wider tires.  With the larger tires you will want to get new gears for your transfer case in order to turn them over.

I'm not sure I would want a Sammy for sand dunes though unless your looking at an engine swap as well.  You might be better off with a Tracker/Sidekick.  Softer ride and a bit more power.

If used for a dune runner, its defiantly going to be seeing some high revs.

Amilla